if he had picked susan rice? guest: i think that is the case it would be. it could be too tough fights. i helped host one of the meetings were lindsey graham and john mccain made very clear their views on susan rice. the moderator cut the president's response and have those simultaneously been going on, susan rice would have deflected a lot of the attention from this hagel nomination. now other nominations, like john brennan, which is controversial in some quarters, and john kerry are getting less attention. i would like to comment on the gay rights. i was the only journalist who happened to have written about chuck hagel's views on gay issues years ago because i had conversations with him about my own views that at the time we were still pursuing translators working in intelligence agencies and the defense department and trying to purge them from military service. i had a discussion with him about that and about and don't ask, don't tell. they were attempting to sort out how you would sort through. hagel made clear his support for repealing don't ask, don'